One of the ways in which the Office for National Statistics (ONS) consulted with users about developments in the 2001 Census programme was through a number of Census Advisory Groups. These represented the interests of the main user communities. They covered central government, local authorities, the health service, the business sector, the academic sector, organisations with interests in special needs and minority populations and a specific Advisory Group for users in Wales. There were terms of reference for each Advisory Group which are availabel to download.

Meetings were usually held twice a year, often to time with particular developments or events in Census planning.

Advisory Group Papers, often publicised through Census News covered all aspects of Census planning. Among the topics were the selection and testing of Census questions, legislative issues, statistical and methodological developments, as well as consultation on census output.